History of Rome, and of the Roman people, from its origin to the invasion of the barbarians . tsthose intense emotions which give immortality to the poets work;they are archaeologists writing in verse. Silius, a prudent, cautioussenator, who was consul under Nero and perhaps also underDomitian. while continuing something very like a man of in-tegrity, escaped the dangers of those reigns and also the cares ofold age, by quietly writing a few lines every day, which finally IDEAS. ;;:;:; made a poem of ten thousand verses, interesting to the historian,but rarely read by the man of poetic taste. S
History of Rome, and of the Roman people, from its origin to the invasion of the barbarians . tsthose intense emotions which give immortality to the poets work;they are archaeologists writing in verse. Silius, a prudent, cautioussenator, who was consul under Nero and perhaps also underDomitian. while continuing something very like a man of in-tegrity, escaped the dangers of those reigns and also the cares ofold age, by quietly writing a few lines every day, which finally IDEAS. ;;:;:; made a poem of ten thousand verses, interesting to the historian,but rarely read by the man of poetic taste. Statius, on the contrary, is an improvisator. He takes careto tell posterity that he composes rapidly, as Pliny liked it tobe known that he could plead for hours: Not one of my Sihaecost me more than two days, and some of them much less timethan that. He sang the exploits of the Seven Championsbefore Thebes, — which subject must have been very tiresome tothe Romans of hisday. Valerius Flac-cus goes back stillfarther, even to theArgonauts, — mytho-logical poems andlifeless, giving a mo-. ments pleasure toidle scholars, butincomprehensible tothe people. Martial,who certainly hasreceived too muchhonor, is not solearned, and belongsmore to his time:•• My muse, he says,•• does not assume theextravagant cloak ofthe tragic poets. —• But everything writ-ten in such a style ispraised, admired, and adored by admit it. Things in thatstyle are praised, but mine are And unfortunately he had theright to boast of this. Then were read everywhere, even, if wemay take his word for it, in virtuous homes, his fifteen hundredepigrams, — small pieces, the longest of which does not exceed ?r AULUS PERSIDS FLACCUS^).1 1 Bust in the Capitol, Philosophers Room, Xo. 85. - Epirjr. iv. 49. On the poets of this period, the Pokes de la decadence romaine, by , will be read with pleasure and profit. 334 THE EMPIRE AND ROMAN SOCIETY. fifty lines. In them are found wit an
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